


Another Mrs. Reynolds

by fireflysglow_archivist



Category: Firefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-22
Updated: 2006-05-22
Packaged: 2019-04-29 07:01:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14467455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireflysglow_archivist/pseuds/fireflysglow_archivist
Summary: A woman from Mal's past pops up when the crew is captured by the Alliance.





	Another Mrs. Reynolds

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Firefly’s Glow](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Firefly%27s_Glow), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Firefly's Glow collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/fireflysglow/profile).

Another Mrs. Reynolds

## Another Mrs. Reynolds

Mal sighed in frustration as Ariel's outlines became clearer. They would be arriving within the hour and he didn't like the feeling he was getting the closer they got. You didn't live this life long if you didn't learn to listen to your gut. "Any sign that we're on someone's radar, Wash?" Wash looked surprised. "No, Mal. We haven't picked up a random scan or nything." "Keep an eye out, I don't want any surprises." Mal went down to the hold to make sure everything for the meeting was ready. They had gotten hold of some very rare antiques and the buyer insisted they deliver to Ariel. Mal didn't like returning to the scene of one of their many crimes but the money was too good to argue a point like that. Zoe looked up from the weapon she was checking. "Problem, sir?" she asked, seeing the look on his face. "Got a feeling. A bad one and I ain't in the mood for things to go wrong. Where's the Doc?" "In the infirmary, getting his stuff together for the landing." Zoe answered. Mal went and found Simon closing his medical bag. "Doc, I need you to be quick and quiet and to get back here as soon as possible." Simon looked a little surprised. "Of course. I know the dangers of getting caught, believe me. I just need to pick up a couple more medicines for River." "Just be quick. If something goes wrong....well, you wouldn't want to be left." And with that warning in Simon's ear, Mal left. Kaylee brushed off Simon's worries when she arrived to wish him luck. "Cap'n would never leave you, or anyone else for that matter. It's not his way. He just was trying to scare you, make you careful." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "So, be careful." 

Mal, Zoe and Jayne walked into the bar in Ariel's capital with the small case that contained the antiquities and sat at the prearranged table. They were there for a few minutes when Mal looked around and noticed quite a lot of men who didn't seem to fit in this little bar. "Sir, there are an awful lot of ....." Zoe began. "Alliance undercover security officers...yeah, I know. Let's make ourselves scarce." "Yeah, that'll be easy - we're the only civilians left in here." Jayne shot out, looking around. "This is a trap, Mal." Mal didn't answer; he just stood slowly and picked up the case. The nearest man turned and looked at him. "Please sit, Captain Reynolds, you won't have to wait long. And we prefer to minimize the bloodshed." "That'd be a first. What exactly are we waiting for?" Mal asked, sitting down and gesturing to Jayne to put the gun he knew he was holding under the table away. "Not `what', `who'." The man corrected. "Okay, WHO are we waiting for?" Mal had just about had enough and was wondering if blasting their way out was just a quick way to die. The man picked up a comm that was beeping in his holster and spoke into it. "Yes General. Right away." He turned and suddenly, blasting their way out didn't look like an option. Every man in the bar had a gun trained on them. "Come with us please." The man gestured and led them into waiting vehicles. "No money is worth this." Mal muttered as the door closed. 

The trip to the Alliance Supreme Headquarters was short. Mal looked at the depressingly high security walls and the air and ground troops and his bad feeling intensified almost to fear. 

They were led into a small conference room and left there alone. The room would be bugged of course so they just sat in silence. After 10 minutes or so, the man who spoke to them in the bar came back with a security detail that parted for a smaller figure. "General Carter-Reynolds, these are the captives we apprehended at the bar." The man gestured towards Mal and his crew. "Reynolds?" Jayne said, confused.   
Zoe sighed in disbelief and looked at Mal. "Captain?" she asked. Mal stared at the figure and held his breath as it raised its dark head. He let out his breath and clenched his fists. Large amber eyes looked steadily into Mal's and his whole world spun for a moment. He unclenched his fists slowly and managed a small smile. "Zoe, Jayne, I'd like you to meet General Aerin Carter-Reynolds." He said slowly. "My wife." 

For once, Jayne was stunned into silence and Zoe knew better than to open her mouth right then. Jayne recovered. "Gorram it, Mal, how many wives do you have?" Mal almost laughed. "Just the one." And he didn't dare take his eyes off of her. She finally broke her silence. "Take the other two to holding and leave us." She said, her low voice sending shivers up Mal's spine. The man did as he was told without a word and soon it was the two of them. "Mal." She said softly, staring at him long and steady. "How have you been?" Mal shook his head. "Shiny, Aerin, and you? The killing and oppressing going well?" "As well as the thieving and smuggling is for you, I imagine." She returned. Her voice never changed. Its quiet low tone was level no matter how she might be feeling; it was part of her control. It had always drove Mal crazy that she could do that. "I had hoped we would never have to have this meeting." She admitted, walking to the window and looking out. Grace was evident in her walk and he tried not to admire the lean but muscular lines of her body. Her stance was that of a trained killer. "Then why bring me here? Why not let me do my business and be on my merry?" Mal countered. "I didn't have you arrested. You were betrayed by your `buyer' who owes a lot of money to the Alliance. My subordinate recognized your name and had me informed." Aerin answered. "And now?" Mal asked.  
Her answer was a long time coming. "I wish I knew." 

Jayne and Zoe were released without a word an hour after they were separated from Mal. They didn't ask about Mal, Zoe knew that he'd want them to get gone before the Alliance officers changed their minds so that's what they did. Wash picked them up and they had a meeting immediately upon returning. The rest of the crew was dumbfounded by this new development. *"Ai ya, hwai luh!"* Wash muttered.   
"Aerin Carter is his wife?" Shepherd Book asked slowly. "That's very....." "Disturbing?" Simon volunteered.  
"Do you know of this General?" Zoe asked Book. "She is well known in Alliance circles. A young General, responsible for many successful campaigns during the war. She was an operative of the central Security Council. An assassin, a very good one." Book explained. "How can Mal even know such a woman, much less be married to her?" Inara asked tightly. She was obviously more than a little put out by this. "That may be easier to figure out. Aerin Carter was not from a Core planet. She came from the Outer Rim. It isn't inconceivable that she and the Captain might have known each other before the war." Book mused. "What do we do now? Shouldn't we be gettin' out of here?" Jayne burst out. "I hate just sittin'." "We wait." Zoe said firmly. "And we come up with a plan to get the Captain back that won't end in us all dead." The group broke up and Inara returned to her shuttle. She stewed in silence for a moment or two then picked up a tea cup and threw it at the wall, barely missing Kaylee who was just coming in. Kaylee paused, eyes wide, then continued into the shuttle. "Inara, are you okay?"   
"He married her, Kaylee. Him, the one who can't even treat a woman like a person! And I won't even begin to catalog what her mental limitations must be to marry him!" "Inara, we'll get him back. Then I think you should tell him." Kaylee patted her on the back and headed for the door. "Tell him what a rutting ass he is?"   
"Tell him how you feel about him."  
And Inara was alone again. 

Mal stepped out the shower, pulled on his pants and looked out the window that ran the length of the quarters he'd been put in. For a cell, it was pretty gorram nice. He sat on the very comfortable couch and leaned back. Aerin. 

_They met when they were 15. Aerin was on the run and landed at Mal's mothers' ranch. Mal's mom, always a softie, put Aerin to work and fed and housed her without questions. Aerin was a killer by then, Mal had found that out soon enough. One of the ranch hands tried to rob and kill his Mom one night. His mom raised an alarm and Aerin cornered him in the stable and with a grace that was terrifying, had incapacitated him. Easily, quickly, and silently. Then Mal watched as Aerin killed him. She didn't have to, he was subdued, no longer a threat. She just did it and walked away. River Tam reminded Mal of Aerin when they'd met. That same grace, like a finely honed weapon, like a falcon or a hawk. A bird of prey. Mal and Aerin watched each other for awhile, each gauging the others' worth, some tentative movements towards friendship, and then one night Aerin had appeared in his room. "Mal, you are what I wish I could be." She had said, in that low, even voice. "You believe so strongly in your values, in yourself." Mal had put his hands on either side of her face. "I wish...for you." She'd smiled then, a true smile, open and trusting; funny, he'd never seen her smile like that before. And their lips had met and melded to each other. They made love for the first time then, and it was truly a first time for both. Mal could still bring up memories of her soft cries under him, her silken skin touching his. The feel of her holding him in her. After that she'd told him the truth of how she'd ended up there. She was trained from a young age to be an operative for the Alliance Security Council but she'd run because she wasn't sure that that was the path she wanted to take. Mal definitely didn't want her to take that path, so, he'd promised that no one would ever find her there and they would be together forever. Two nave statements that he was unable to keep. For two and a half years they were happy and sometimes Mal believed that the happiness he'd felt back then almost made the hell that came after worth it. When the war broke out in the Outer Rim and the Independents became organized, Mal and Aerin joined quickly. Well, Mal joined quickly, Aerin just followed him. They were married at the ranch before they shipped out and whether the marriage flagged an alarm in someone's security or whether they'd just finally gotten tired of their prodigy running loose, Mal didn't know. But he did know that just as soon as the ceremony was done, a detail of Alliance security operatives swooped down and took Aerin back. They wanted to kill Mal, he knew this, had prepared himself for it. Aerin turned and stared the head operative in the eyes. "Kill him and I will never fight for you, ever. He isn't anything to you, leave him." The operative stared back at her and nodded. "Fine, let's go." And Aerin left without a backwards glance. And Mal fought the war against the Alliance with an added fire to his hate always hoping that she'd escape and return to him. After the war he had read the intelligence reports that told of Aerin Carter-Reynolds, first as an assassin, then as a commander, then colonel and finally a General. All of this happened quickly, rewards for campaigns that were brilliant and devastatingly successful, albeit for the wrong side. Aerin was intelligent and very adaptive, but Mal had never realized how coldly rational she could be as well. She was personally responsible for so many deaths that Mal found what little hope he'd had left was gone._

The door hissed open and Aerin walked in. She was still in her uniform and Mal shook his head. "Do you sleep in that gorram uniform?" "I take my duties seriously; after all, they are, in the end, all I have." Aerin countered with a slight smile. "Whose choice was that?" Mal asked.  
"Mine, the alternative was something I couldn't face then." She admitted. "Alternative?" Mal questioned.   
"Yes, you dead. I just couldn't let that happen." "When I was safe, you could've made a different choice, Aerin." Mal argued, not even sort of liking the way this conversation was going. "You were never safe, Mal. Don't be a fool. They kept tabs on you and have always known where you are. In battles, during the war. Keeping it over my head like a big club. `We know where your husband is, don't let us down.'" She said with a quiet bitterness. "And I am good at my job. There was never any denying that." "You ever reason that you could be good at other things too?" Mal asked. "No." she said straightening her back and looking out past him into nothingness. "I am a soldier, which is where my strengths have always lain." "Sounds like me, after the war." Mal said. "I was wrong, so are you. People are who they choose to be, Aerin." "But you always had that inner voice telling you what was right, Mal. I had to leave the only one I ever had behind." Aerin admitted, looking him in the eyes. "Not having a conscience can be a blessing to a soldier." He was shocked into silence then he shook his head. "That's a load of _fei-oo_ and you know it." Mal shot back. "You think so? Think on it hard, Mal. I never had what you live your life by. Why do you think I found it so easy to wage war against the only thing in the `verse that I love? When I was with you, I followed you because of your commitment to what you believed was right, not my beliefs, yours." Aerin's voice was quiet but emphatic. "I would've fought for the Independents just as well as I have fought for the Alliance." Mal shook his head. "I don't believe you." "I know you don't. But it's truth, whether you see it as such or not." "Now, what are we going to do with you." She moved on briskly. "I was kind of leaning towards letting me go." Mal confided. Aerin chuckled. "Yes, I believe that." She stared at him long, as if memorizing every line of his face then she smiled gently. "Go." Mal looked at her. "Just walk on out?" 

"Certainly not, I will have you escorted to your ship. But you are free to go." Aerin repeated. "I'm a mite confused on how this works for you?" Mal asked warily. "It doesn't. But that's not your worry." Aerin stated, standing up and heading for the door. Mal stopped her and held her hand in his. "Come with me."   
"No, the repercussions of such a move would be....." she began, but he cut her off. "I'm not caring about the gorram Alliance, or what you believe they'd do." "Mal, I will not have everything I gave to keep you safe become worthless. You will go; one way or another, and you will do it alone." Aerin was adamant. "And if I refuse?" He shot out, aware that his pig-headedness was probably rearing its ugly head at this moment just to be contrary. The last thing he saw was her smile, "You can't." and then everything went dark. 

Mal woke up on Serenity in the infirmary. Zoe and Simon were there speaking in the corner quietly. "He's not going to like this, I'm telling you." Zoe was saying to Simon. "It's for the best, right?" Simon countered. "For him and us." Zoe reassured.  
"Uh, `him' is right here and wondering what the hell is going on." Mal said, sitting up, holding his head. "You're recovering from a nerve punch to the neck. Your wife's handiwork I would say. It was precise and didn't do any lasting damage. We're halfway out of the system, heading to Beaumonde." Zoe reported. "Turn around." Mal's voice was steel.  
"Sir..." Zoe began.  
"Turn this boat around now. That's a direct order, Zoe." Mal repeated. "Sir, we can't. The General was very clear. If we return to Ariel, we will be destroyed entering orbit. Her orders." Zoe paused. "Sir, she was very serious." "Do l look to be telling a joke?" Mal questioned angrily. "No, sir. But if you'll just sit and think for a moment, you'll realize we have no choice. You know where she is. Come back at a later time, in a different ship, in a shuttle, but if Serenity enters Ariel's atmo, we are done." Zoe said calmly. Mal was silent. He knew she was right and he was helpless to do anything but leave. Zoe exited quietly and Simon walked over and placed something in Mal's palm. "This was around your neck when you were dropped off." Then he too, left. Mal opened his hand. It was a locket, a platinum one that had belonged to Mal's grandmother, one that his ma had given Aerin. He opened it with a flick. Inside were two pictures; one of a young Malcolm Reynolds and his bride-to-be, one of him dressed in a sergeant's uniform; a Browncoat. She must have pulled it off of an intelligence report. He looked hard at himself in the second picture. He looked harder, weary, and so much colder from the man in the other picture it was like two different people. He hated the pictures, he hated that he was helpless, and he hated that he was leaving. He found couldn't hate her anymore, however, but the feelings that he'd changed them for didn't seem to be making him any happier. He vented to Shepherd Book when he came to check on Mal later that evening. "They'll hang her." Mal said stonily.  
"Unlikely, Captain. The General is very popular in the Alliance, and very successful. She has achieved too much for them to take it away because she has a soft spot for her husband. She will be fine." Shepherd Book reassured. "And the next time..." "There's no `next time', I'll never see her again." Mal stated emotionlessly. "Oh, Captain, I have a much higher regard for your ingenuity than that. You'll see her again, someday." Book smiled and patted the younger man on the shoulder and left him to rest. Mal closed his eyes and slowly dozed off. He dreamed about one of the last nights that Aerin and he had spent before their wedding. They were lying out under the stars on the haystacks and pointed out the various planets and systems. 

*"We're going to see them all." Mal promised. "You and I are going to get a boat and fly all over this `verse." "Really?" Aerin smiled trustingly up at him. "Nothing holdin' us here, Aerin. My ma will understand. We'll be free." Mal smiled at Aerin and held her in his arms. He squeezed her and kissed the top of her head inhaling the scent in her short wild hair. "Free." He repeated. "I'm free as long as I'm with you, Mal. No matter where we are." Aerin said softly. Then they'd fallen asleep under the stars.* 

Mal woke with a smile, but it faded as he looked around and remembered where and when he was. Then he took a shaky breath that just escaped being a sob, blinked back some tears and closed his eyes. When he opened them a moment later, all that was there was emptiness, and the wall. And Mal turned over and slept holding the locket tight in his hand.

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title:   **Another Mrs. Reynolds**   
Author:   **Ellcrys**   
Details:   **Standalone**  |  **G**  |  **gen**  |  **17k**  |  **05/22/06**   
Characters:  Malcolm, Zoe, Wash, Kaylee, Inara, Jayne, Simon, Book   
Summary:  A woman from Mal's past pops up when the crew is captured by the Alliance.   
  



End file.
